


An Angel's Gift

by noiproksa



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon Compliant, Family Feels, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Misunderstandings, Team Free Will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 06:39:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16781626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noiproksa/pseuds/noiproksa
Summary: Cas wants to show Dean how much his friendship means to him. Unfortunately, he still hasn’t figured out how exchanging gifts with humans works.





	An Angel's Gift

**Author's Note:**

> I only just joined the fandom when Dean and Cas had their tenth anniversary (I’m still kind of feeling like the fandom newbie) so this fic is a bit late, but I hope that won’t keep you from enjoying it.

As far as Dean was concerned, Sammy was the one to blame. Sammy and his offhand remark about how Cas and Dean were bickering like an old married couple, even though they had only just had their tenth anniversary.

Now, a few days later, Cas was standing in Dean’s room, interrupting his relaxing time that Dean liked to spend listening to music and surfing the web. Dean, who was sitting on his bed cross-legged, had taken off the headphones and hung them around his neck, but decided that he could multitask and keep surfing the internet. Maybe that would make Cas leave quicker and let him get back to relaxing in peace.

“I have done some research on human culture,” Cas informed him.

“Uh-huh,” Dean said without looking up from his laptop.

“Humans like to celebrate important anniversaries with their loved ones,” Cas continued as if that were news to… anyone.

“You don’t have to tell me, buddy. I’m human, remember? I know these things,” Dean pointed out.

“Right.” Cas took a step closer to the bed, but Dean still kept his attention focused on his laptop screen. “In that case, I fail to see why we did not celebrate our ten year anniversary. I was made to understand that ten years is a considerable amount of time for humans.”

That made Dean stop dead in his tracks and look up at Cas. “Huh?” he asked, eloquently.

“Further research suggested that humans give each other presents for their anniversary.—Like jewelry.”

That’s when Dean’s eyes landed on Cas’ hands and on the ugly golden necklace he was holding.

“No. That’s not…” Dean couldn’t believe that he still had to explain some of the most basic human concepts to Cas after all these years. “Men don’t exchange jewelry. That’s for chicks,” he settled on saying and hoped that that would be the end of it.

“I see,” Cas said drily, even though he did not sound like he ‘saw’ anything. In fact, the angel was now fixing him with a glare as if it was all Dean’s fault that human customs were so confusing.

“You don’t sound like you understand,” Dean pointed out, finally giving up on his alone time and snapping the laptop shut.

“Maybe that is because I am not as stupid as you would like to believe,” Cas retorted.

“What?!” Did he seriously have to explain to the angel that men did not wear something like— _that_? Cas had to be the least perceptive angel in the whole garrison if he hadn’t realized in his ten years on Earth that he had never once seen a man wear such a necklace. Before Dean could mention this to Cas, however, the angel had already started talking again.

“I know how to use the Google, Dean.”

Dean, confused as to what was going on here, thought it wise not to comment on grammar mistakes while Cas was glaring at him like that.

“The internet site was very specific about it being a _human_ custom. How would chicks even wear jewelry with their scrawny feet and tiny throats?—Also, they do not have calendars to keep track of how much time has passed,” he added for good measure.

Dean stared at him openmouthed, trying to figure out if Cas was just messing with him or if he truly didn’t get what Dean was trying to tell him. While he was puzzling over that, Cas continued, “You could have simply said that you do not wish to celebrate the date with me. No reason to make up a story about baby chickens.—Meeting you for the first time seemed like an important event to me, but I understand if that is not the case for you.”

He buried the necklace in the pocket of his trench coat and turned around to leave the room.

“Cas,” Dean called after him, which got the angel to pause, but he did not turn back around. “Of course it was important for me. You raised me from hell—was kind of a big deal for me. I was talking about ‘chicks,’ not _chicks_.”

That did get Cas to turn back around and squint at him, head tilted in his usual fashion.

“You know _—women_ ,” Dean clarified. When Cas was still looking at him with narrowed eyes, he added, “Come on. I’ve talked about ‘chicks’ before. What, you thought I was into bestiality or something?”

Finally, the frown on Cas’ forehead smoothed out. “No. I thought you were making one of your strange jokes.”

“Jokes?” Dean repeated and now he was the one to frown. “What would even be funny about that?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Cas deadpanned. “What is funny about any of your jokes?”

“I’m hilarious,” Dean stated, slightly affronted. “Not my fault if the jokes don’t translate well into angel speak.” Then he nodded at Cas’ trench coat and the pocket he had buried the necklace in. “Where’d you even get that thing?”

“Sam suggested it,” Cas explained. “I asked him for advice because the Google only told me to get jewelry, but I didn’t know what exactly would be appropriate as a gift. Of course, I know that you used to wear the amulet and the ring, but that hardly seemed like enough data to extrapolate from… It appears as if Sam did not know the rule about giving jewelry only to ‘chicks,’ either.”

“Yeah, seems like it,” Dean grumbled. Well played, Sammy. He got him good. But now it was high time to prank him back. “You know what? Sammy probably feels left out. We should get him something, too.”

“That is very thoughtful of you, Dean,” Cas said who seemed on board with the idea immediately. Good. That was important for step two of the prank plan.

“You know what you should get him?” Dean asked, pointing at him as if he had just had a brilliant idea. “Hair accessories.” He tried to keep a straight face and only barely succeeded.

“Hair accessories?” Cas asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “Sam never wears any.”

“About high time he started.” Dean opened his laptop again and had a few hair pins and bows in his online shopping cart in no time.

***

When the hair accessories came a couple days later, Dean couldn’t wait to see the look on Sammy’s face, which is why he hung around the library where Cas presented the prank present to Sam. The look on Sam’s face actually was priceless.

“Uhm… what’s _that_?” he asked, his nose twitching in disgust, making it very difficult for Dean to keep from bursting into laughter.

“I am sorry,” Cas said and lowered his hand that was holding the pink barrette. “I don’t seem to be doing well with getting the right gifts for humans.” He looked so dejected that Dean actually felt bad because he had made Cas get that prank gift for Sam, while all Cas had wanted to do was get a good—a real—gift for his friend. “I had simply wanted to express my gratitude for your friendship.”

Sam must have felt bad about his reaction, too, because he quickly said, “No, that’s… I love it, Cas.” As if to prove a point, he took the barrette from Cas to put it in his hair.

Dean snorted a laugh at the picture he presented, but then Sam shot him a meaningful look and Dean cleared his throat and said, “Uhm… yeah. Where’s that cool necklace you got me?”

Cas squinted at him. “I thought you said it was only intended for women?”

“Yeah, well. What can I say? I was being a jerk.—Just gimme.” Dean made grabby hands at Cas, who procured the necklace from his pocket and handed it over hesitantly. Dean really did feel like a jerk for having refused the gift, especially since Cas had apparently been carrying it around in his trench coat since that day.

While Dean was putting the necklace on, feeling rather ridiculous under Sam’s watchful (and self-satisfied) eye, he wondered how one could explain to an angel that it wasn’t about the present, but the person giving it to you.

Cas still appeared doubtful. “Your initial reaction did not seem to indicate that you appreciated my gifts,” he pointed out.

“The material things don’t really matter anyway,” Sam said. “They just show us that you thought of us and that’s what makes them special.”

A small smile flitted across Cas’ face. Ah. That’s how you explained gift giving to an angel.

“Which reminds me.” Dean walked over to the parcel he had set aside on the table and fished out a tie with bowls of noodles and the inscription ‘send noods’ on it. It had been meant as a joke, but hearing Sam describe what gift giving was all about made him question if it wasn’t more than that. After all, he had seen the tie, had immediately thought of Cas and simply hadn’t been able to help himself—he absolutely _had_ to buy it for the angel.

“You know, happy tenth anniversary or whatever,” he said, holding it out to Cas, who took it almost reverently and looked at it as if it were the most precious thing he had ever laid eyes on.

“Dean…” he said, his voice rough and even lower than usual. “I don’t know what to say.” Yeah, it definitely did not come across as a joke to Cas. Which was just fine with Dean, who had decided that the tie was the perfect non-prank gift to show Cas that—yeah, the angel and the ten years with him meant as much to Dean as they apparently did to Cas.

“Well, you can put it on,” Dean suggested and promptly went about helping him untie his old tie and put on the new one because Cas was still not the best at tying ties.

Cas looked really proud once he wore the new tie and Dean saw Sam smile to himself out of the corner of his eyes. They looked ridiculous—Cas with his ‘send noods’ tie, Sam with his pink barrette, and Dean suspected he didn’t look any better himself with the golden necklace.

They would so not be able to leave the bunker like this. But they didn’t have to. Right here, right now, they had each other and they didn’t really need any symbols of their friendship. After all, they knew what they meant to each other. It sure was nice, though, to tell each other from time to time. And if they chose women’s necklaces, barrettes and dorky ties to do so… well, that was just typical for their weird little family.

**Author's Note:**

> It’s been a while since I posted a oneshot, but I really just had the one scene in mind. I still hope you liked it and as always, feedback makes my day and my muse happy. :)


End file.
